Health Minute: What to Do at a Car Accident

If you were to find yourself at the scene of a car accident, would you know what to do? On today's Health Minute, emergency room physician Dr. Troy Madsen walks through the steps you should take to protect yourself and help the injured in a car accident.

Dr. Troy Madsen walks through the steps you should take to protect yourself and help the injured in a car accident.">

Interview Transcript

Interviewer: You find yourself at the scene of a car accident. Dr. Troy Madsen's an emergency room physician. What should you do if that happens?

Dr. Madsen: So if you happen to find yourself at a scene of a car accident, it's a tough situation to be in, regardless of who you are. As an ER doctor, I recognize that I have very little to offer in that situation. So the number one thing you want to do is get help there. Call 911. Get an ambulance there. Number two, you want to make sure you're going to be staying safe there. Don't put yourself in harm's way. And number three, you've got to get this person to a safe place. Get them out of the vehicle. You've got to worry about their spine, their breathing, all those things, but you also have to make sure they're safe. Once they're out of the vehicle, you can focus on things like stabilizing their spine, administer CPR if you need to do that, control bleeding, and do what you can until help gets there.

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